Focaccia With Squash Ribbons, Walnuts, & Gorgonzola Crumbles

This week may seem like winter squash week here on Italian Food Forever, and the reason for that is that I was a little too greedy shopping for squash last week. I had squash sitting all over my countertop and needed to start using them up. Over the past few days, I made Roasted Butternut Squash With Dried Cranberries & Walnuts, Creamy Goat Cheese Pasta With Pancetta & Squash (recipe coming soon!), and this tasty Focaccia With Squash Ribbons, Walnuts, & Gorgonzola Crumbles. I cannot seem to get enough of squash lately it seems!

I usually make focaccia every week, and though I usually make a basic plain focaccia that we can use as bread to serve with meals, or for sandwiches. Sometimes though, I just want to experiment, and I throw on some toppings depending on what I have on hand. For this focaccia, I had a small Kabocha squash, which is also called a Japanese pumpkin that I decided to cut into thin ribbons to use as a topping. I simply peeled the squash, scooped out the seeds, and then used a vegetable peeler to cut the squash into ribbons. Because sage and squash are a wonderful flavor combination, I picked some fresh sage leaves from my herb garden also. After baking the focaccia halfway, I added some chopped walnuts, Gorgonzola cheese crumbles, and a drizzle of chestnut honey that I brought back from Corsica. I decided to divide my dough into two pieces and shaped two round focaccia about 12 inches wide. You could also simply press the dough into a 13 x 9 inch pan instead. After breaking my wrist last month I have had to learn to knead my dough one handed, and I must say that I am getting pretty good at it! This would be a great option when entertaining this fall sliced into thin pie shaped pieces and served with a glass of sparkling wine.

I this morning made your basic Focaccia and I use fresh Italian flat leaf parsley from the Garden and green onion on one with a harden type mexican cheese very nice. And I made a round one with Roma tomato Rosemary green olives with pimento and the same cheese it was so good I could have eaten the whole thing. Very nice recipe. I lobe your blog have for years.. Happy weekend with love Janice